“I swear we’re going to be spending the whole semester on Notre-Dame,” Fiona said, as she dodged around a group of boys who stood in the middle of the path, laughing about something.
“Maybe we’re only going to read part of it,” Meredith replied.
Fiona looked at her. “I know I haven’t been here long, but even I know that there’s no way one of our teachers is going to let us get away with only reading part of a book. I’m just hoping she doesn’t pull a Ms. Griffith and start pushing us through at warp speed.”
Her roommate sighed as they made their way through the bottom of Spirit dorm. “Me too.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes, both just enjoying the clear skies, smell of the sea, and each other’s company. It felt like every day Fiona spent at St. Lawrence Academy made it feel more and more like somewhere she really belonged, like a second home, somewhere she could be herself. Or at least, herself pretending to be a dryad. Which so far hadn’t meant anything except telling people she was a dryad when she was asked. It seemed weirdly easy to be accepted by the Phasms. Then again, she did have the support of the principal and Meredith.
Fiona and Meredith had barely walked into their dorm when Asahi came hurrying over. Their dorm head wasn’t her normal self, stray strands of hair escaping her usual ponytail, her cheeks coloured. “Mr. Rana is waiting for you. Please join him now. I’m going to make some tea.”
When they only stared at her, she flapped her hands at them. “Haiyaku!”
The two of them exchanged a glance then looked over at the lounge. The vice-principal wasn’t hard to find, sitting completely upright in one of the chairs facing the door. They hurried over, both dropping their backpacks beside the couch as they sat. “Sorry,” Fiona said. “We just got out of class.”
Mr. Rana nodded stiffly. “I had thought as much.” For several seconds no one said anything. Finally he spoke again. “I would like to discuss with you how you are settling in, Ms. Wilde. Will you walk with me?”
Fiona looked at Meredith who looked uncomfortable. She shrugged but stood, her roommate following suit. “Sure.”
The vice-principal nodded again and led the way towards the dorm’s front door. They passed by Asahi who was just coming out of her room with a tray of tea, her mouth opening slightly as she saw them leaving. Fiona felt bad and was about to say something, but her dorm head disappeared.
Mr. Rana took the narrow path that led along the cliff that overlooked the gulf, the one that led towards Water dorm. The girls followed him, silence reigning for a few minutes. “Are you adjusting properly to the academy, Ms. Wilde?”
Fiona nodded, not that he could see it from where he walked in front. “Yeah. I’m still settling into the classes a bit, but everyone’s been really nice to me.”
“No…troubles of any sort?”
“No. I was sort of asked in class what I was one day. I said dryad, and I’m guessing because no one else asked, everyone’s already heard. Stuff seems to get around pretty quick here.”
“And you, Ms. Irivng? How are you dealing with this situation?”
Fiona moved so that Meredith could step ahead of her, her roommate already ducking her head so that her hair fell forward. “I’m fine,” she said, voice soft. Mr. Rana was forced to stop and turn to look at her to hear her. “Everyone so far likes Fiona. We’ve made friends with some of the others.”
“Hmmm…I’m not so sure getting closely involved with the other students is wise, despite what Mr. Bishara says.”
“It’d be weirder not having friends,” Fiona replied. “We’d both stick out and people would talk and guess more rather than asking us themselves. Right now people just ask me stuff which means I know what they’re all saying.”
“A fair point,” Mr. Rana said before he continued walking down the path, forcing them to start off after him. “I’m certain you can understand my concerns over this…irregularity.”
Fiona raised her eyebrows at his suit covered back. “I don’t know about calling me an irregularity, but I get this isn’t normal, even for you guys. I’m doing my best here, and honestly, if I had any issues I’d have come to you for help. So far everything’s been fine though.”
The vice-principal turned to look at her, the sunlight flashing off his glasses as he sighed. “I worry more for what will happen in the future. While Mr. Bishara runs this academy well, at times he has ideas that are, less than suitable. I fear for all that you’ve already acclimatized well to life here, that you’ll ultimately have problems beyond the scope of what we are capable of dealing with. I truly do feel for you and your situation, but my concern is with the academy as a whole.”
Meredith came to stand beside Fiona, arms held stiffly at her sides. “Fiona is good for the academy. The principal was right. A lot of people here don’t know how to talk to humans and worry about it. There are only a couple of others like me who are used to it. And trying to send people out into the human world without having even talked to a human before isn’t going to be pretty, even with all the teaching we get here.”
Almost as if she realized who she’d been speaking to, Meredith flushed and hid her face though she stayed where she was. Fiona felt her own cheeks get warm and reached out, grabbing Meredith’s hand and giving it a squeeze. Her friend met her gaze briefly and smiled.
For several seconds all Mr. Rana did was study them. Finally he sighed and started down the path again. Fiona and Meredith followed him, hearing nothing but the crash of the waves, the twitter of the birds, and the gentle shushing of the wind through the high grass. “You’ve both made valid arguments. I’m prepared to just observe for now, unless of course you require my help for anything that arises.”
Fiona and Meredith looked at each other before Fiona shrugged. So she was being accepted by the vice-principal now, and it looked like he’d probably leave her alone as long as nothing changed drastically. She could live with that.
In the end they said nothing more until they emerged from the path beside Water dorm. “Thank you for taking the time to walk with me,” Mr. Rana said, inclining his head.
“Thanks for looking out for us,” Fiona replied with a shrug.
Meredith ducked her head and said, “Thanks.”
He nodded his head once sharply and then strode off, back towards the school building Fiona guessed. She waited until he was out of sight before turning to Meredith. “So…want to head to dinner?”
Her roommate blinked a couple of times before she smiled. “That sounds good.”
“Excellent,” Fiona said, heading towards the open portion of Water dorm. The shade under it was delightfully cool, making Fiona sigh. “Man, I wish we had a pool or something.”
“We could always go to the beach this weekend.”
She swung her head to stare at Meredith. “There’s a beach?”
The selkie nodded. “It’s a little far for after school, but we could go tomorrow. It’s really nice.”
“Let’s do it! I’ve never actually gone swimming in the ocean before. This is going to be awesome!”
Meredith’s mouth dropped open for a moment before she closed it. “I guess things for you are a lot different from the way they are for me.”
“So is the beach nice? It’s got sand, right?”
“Yeah, it’s nice yellow sand. Most of the beaches at home are rock, so I like this one better. It’ll be nice to get into the water for a while.”
“Oh yeah!” Fiona said. “You’re going to have to show me you going full selkie.”
“Hey!” A voice from behind called.
They both turned to see Tyna and Jordana hurrying towards them. “I thought it was you guys,” Tyna said as the two girls slowed. “But it’s hard to tell from the second floor. You guys heading to dinner?”
Fiona nodded then grinned. “Hey, we’re heading to the beach tomorrow, you in too?”
That startled a laugh out of Jordana. “We’re from Water dorm, of course we’re in.”
“Just the thought of being able to swim freely,” Tyna said, shivering with delight. “I don’t know how people manage to stay on land all the time. I couldn’t do it.”
Fiona chuckled. “Speak for yourself.”
The other three smiled. “I’ll see if Aura wants to come too,” Jordana said.
“We can get a whole group together. It’s going to be epic,” Fiona replied.
“I can teach you how to swim,” Tyna teased.
“I might not be a selkie or a merrow, but I can swim just fine,” Fiona retorted, sticking her tongue out.
Chuckling now, all four of them strolled towards the cafeteria.